Consumer behaviour towards online shopping: A study of Delhi and Faridabad (India)

Since the advent of online shopping in 1979 by Michael Aldrich, the retail market scenario has totally changed. Although it is a quite recent phenomenon in the field of e-commerce but because of its unbeatable features and advantages over the traditional method of shopping; it has already gained popularity among the worldwide customers and is perceived to be the future of shopping in the world. Though the entire world is basking under the glory of online shopping; here in India the adoption rate of the technology is significantly different from the rest of the world because of the country's unique social, economical and demographical characteristics. India has diverse culture and extreme disparities of income (Chatterjee and Ghosal, 2014). In India, there is still a segment of customers, who is not aware or is finding it difficult to adapt to this new method of shopping or is hesitant to use it. To tap that segment of market and thereby increase their market share they will have to develop certain new features or rectify the unwanted ones and make it customer friendly. This will enable the e-retailers to make efficient and effective marketing strategies to convert potential Indian customers into active ones, while retaining existing ones.